


School's not out and niether am I

by LostLegend



Category: IT - Stephen King, it 2019 - Fandom
Genre: 18yo eddie 19yo richie, Alcohol, First Kisses, First Times, Highschool AU, Idk what to tag this as, M/M, Pining, Richie smokes, bev/chie friendship, firsts in general, losers club are there, no clown au, pennywise isnt in this, richie gets held back, theyre seniors but theyre not minors im uncomfy writing children ships sorry, underaged drinking
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 13:31:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 20,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20949143
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostLegend/pseuds/LostLegend
Summary: It's senior year and Richie is in love with his best friend, but he can't tell him.It's senior year and Eddie is in love with his best friend, but he can't tell him.And then they can.





	1. you're my best friend

“Yo Eds, scoot over yeah?” I walked into my bedroom from the bathroom, eyeing my best friend who was sprawled out in my favorite chair, his thumbs tapping away on his cellphone screen.

“Make me man,” he mumbled offhandedly, paying more attention to whatever game he was playing than to me. I shrugged as he ignored me and slid into the chair on top of him instead, earning the reaction I’d hoped for. 

“Fuck you dude, get off me!” Eddie almost yelped, voice cracking a little as he shoved me out of the chair he was occupying and onto the floor where I landed on my ass laughing. 

“Fuck me yourself, coward,” I snorted and he gently kicked me in the shoulder from where he was sitting, rolling his eyes. 

“Shut up dumbass, I bet you didn’t even wash your hands… I don’t want you touching me with your piss hands.” Eddie stretched and I glanced up to respond just in time to catch his shirt riding up to expose his midriff. I felt my breath catch in my throat and looked away before he could catch me staring. Damn… Guess those feelings were still there... Not that I’d really expected them to go away, but I hoped he wouldn’t notice the way my eyes always lingered a little too long. 

“You okay, Rich?” Eddie looked up from his phone to glance down at me, “Thought you’d say something shitty about my mom or something…” He almost looked concerned that I hadn’t. Cute. I laughed again, shrugging and throwing my arms back behind my head. 

“Ah but that’s what you were expecting.. I don’t kiss and tell, Eds,” I paused, feigning thoughtfulness, “Or in this case fuck your mom and tell,” I turned to wink at him with a girn and he shoved me forward with his foot again. 

“Should have seen that coming,” He sighed and picked up his bag off the floor beside the chair, rummaging around in it for a moment. “Hey, didn’t we have homework in math class? We should probably start working on it or something…” He pulled out a notebook, leafing through the pages. 

“What the fuck are we even learning right now anyway?” I tilted my head back and looked up at him, watching him scrunch his nose up as he looked over what I could only assume was our assignment. 

“I think this chapter’s on factoring or something…” He shrugged and I snatched the notebook from him, earning only a small sound of protest as I looked at it before tossing it aside. 

“Fuck that shit, lets go do something fun instead.” We were seniors this year, and I honestly didn't see the point of trying in school at this point. I pushed myself up off the floor with a little huff, looking expectantly down at Eddie. “Wanna go swim or something? Or like-”

“Let’s see what the others are up to,” He cut me off and I tried not to look disappointed. Of course I wanted to see our friends, I loved our friends, but I also loved spending alone time with Eddie, even if I couldn’t grow the balls to say so other than platonically. 

“Yeah okay, let’s go find our loser friends.” I offered a hand to help him up but he swatted it away. 

“Nice try, piss hands,” he grinned at me, “Not touching you until you wash em, remember?” He grabbed his backpack off the floor, shoving his notebook inside before walking to my door. I followed him out, shutting my bedroom door behind us and yelling a quick “bye mom” to what could have honestly been my completely empty house before going to grab our bikes from the porch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is SO short I'll add more chapters later but its 2am and I just kinda wanted to set the scene lol --- the other chapters will be much longer I promise. 
> 
> (forgive me I haven't written fic in 3+ years)


	2. the quarry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the losers go swimming -- richie has a fun dream

“Hurry up dude, they’re all there without us,” Eddie called from ahead of me as we biked down the road to our makeshift clubhouse, an abandoned shack Ben had fixed up in secret over the summer and excitedly showed us at the start of the school year. 

“Relax, spaghetti,” I called back, “It’s not like it’s class or something you won’t get detention for being late,” I laughed, still riding at a leisurely pace behind him.

“Don’t call me that,” He slowed to ride beside me, the handlebars of his bike almost bumping mine and knocking me over. “And I know that, obviously,” he added, “I just want to get to hang out for as long as I can is all.. You know I’m not really allowed to stay out too late.” His voice got a bit quiet at the last part and I frowned. He had just turned 18 over summer, and I'd hoped with that milestone his mom would have given him more freedom, but no such luck. I hummed, deciding to try to lighten the mood, or maybe just distract him.

“Well if you’re out too late ‘n your mom gets mad I could always come over and cheer her up,” I grinned at him and this time he did knock his handlebars into mine, causing me to swerve a little into the road. 

“Fuck you, man,” He said, but I saw the corners of his lips turn up into a little smile.

We rode up to the clubhouse and I spotted our friends bikes leaned up against the side. I stopped, kicking down the kickstand on mine before letting it fall against the wall with the others and watching Eddie do the same. I walked through the door and felt Eddie brush up against my shoulder as he followed me in. Trying to ignore the way my skin felt like it was jumping off my body from the accidental contact, I gave a little wave to our friends who were spread out in the dusty room, lost in conversation with each other. Bill, Mike, and Stan looked up from a beanbag chair where they had all apparently been reading a comic book together to wave back at the two of us.

“Hey guys,” Bill got up, handing the comic book to Stan and walking over to us, “n-nice of you to show up finally.” Beverly and Ben looked up from where they had been sitting at that but didn’t say anything, too preoccupied with whatever they’d been talking about before our arrival. I shrugged, walking over to another unoccupied bean bag and flopping down on it. 

“We’re here now so it shouldn’t matter--ow!” I made an embarrassing squeak as Eddie flopped down next to me, elbowing me in the side.

“I told you we should have hurried,” he huffed and I rolled my eyes, stretching out on the beanbag a little and fishing a pack of cigarettes out of my shirt pocket. 

“Whatever, dude,” I pressed a cigarette between my lips and then paused, glancing to where Beverly and Ben were once again seemingly lost in conversation. “Hey Bevvie, you got a light?” I watched her fish around in her pocket for a moment before throwing a light blue bic at me.

“If you steal it this time I swear I’ll kick your ass, Rich,” she smiled at me and I waved my hand in dismissal, lighting the cigarette and tossing the lighter back towards her.

“Eugh dude don’t blow that shit in my face….” Eddie rolled away from me, coughing and fanning his hand in front of his face. “Do you KNOW how many toxins are in those things?” He looked at me pointedly and I took another drag, tilting my head back to blow it toward the ceiling instead as I exhaled. I heard him sigh and then add softly, “wish you two wouldn’t smoke those…” I glanced at him and the look on his face almost made me want to snub out my stoge, but I didn’t. I was almost grateful for the distance it put between us, there was only so much accidental brushing up against one another that I could handle before it felt like I was losing my mind (even if I kinda liked the feeling of losing my mind around Eddie). 

“Sorry Eds,” I started and then the corners of my lips turned up a bit. “But I can’t help it if your mom likes the taste of smoke on me,” My smile grew into a shit eating grin as he threw a book at me, almost knocking the cigarette from my hand. “Hey!” I protested and kicked one of my feet out towards him. “You’re gonna make me start a fire or something chill out…” He grabbed my foot and yanked me forward out of the beanbag chair and onto the floor in front of it where I landed with a little oof.

“Shut the fuck up about my mom then,” He looked a little pissed now, but he was still holding my ankle, and some part of my brain told me to fuck with him a little more and see if he’d wrestle me or something. 

“I would but we both know she can’t shut up about me,” I winked at him and he made a sort of screech before doing exactly what I’d hoped he’d do and leaping on me, tackling me to the ground and making me drop my cigarette on what was thankfully a concrete floor. I cackled and wrestled him back for a moment before he managed to somehow pin one of my arms behind me and I was caught staring up into his eyes. Fuck. This was not good. I squirmed under him, hoping desperately that my face wasn’t as red as it felt like it was and that my body wouldn’t betray me in other more obvious ways. 

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry get off me man,” I wiggled again but my apology seemed to satisfy him and he slid off of me, releasing my arm.

“Goddamn you two get a room already….” Bev called jokingly and I felt my face heat again as Stan and Ben laughed. Eddie seemed to either not notice her comment or ignored it and flopped down into the beanbag chair I had previously been sitting in. He stuck his tongue out at me and I stuck mine out back, leaning my head back against the bean bag but shifting a bit to the side when I brushed against Eddie’s legs, self conscious from Bev’s teasing comment that was a little too real for me to deal with. 

“So you guys wanna do something or what?” I glanced back around the room, once again taking in the lazy atmosphere of the clubhouse. 

“I dunno,” Bill shrugged, looking over at me, “we could go swim in the qu-qu-” 

“In the quarry? That’s a good idea, Bill,” Mike chimed in and Stan nodded. Bill looked a little frustrated at being cut off but seemed to quickly let it go, nodding as well. I shrugged and looked up at Eddie. 

“Yeah that could be fun, didn’t you wanna swim earlier, Rich?” He looked down at me, meeting my eyes and I nodded, remembering my earlier comment but a little surprised that Eddie had as well. 

“Uh yeah, yeah I did,” I shifted, moving to stand up again and picking up my long forgotten cigarette which had gone out on the ground. “Let’s do that while it’s still light out, yeah?” I looked to the others, who all were beginning to get up and ready to leave. Beverly was the first ready and she slapped me on the shoulder, looking back at me as she headed for the door. 

“I’ll race you to our bikes, Richie,” She smiled at me and I grinned back, giving a little nod. 

“Okay, you’re on, but good luck getting through the DOOR!” I sprinted for the door as fast as I could, hoping I could beat her to it and keep her from getting out somehow, after all, our bikes were just at the front of the building and it wasn’t that long of a race, so this was more of a skill thing than a fast thing. I didn’t make it in time. She beat me to the door and slammed it in my face with a “HA!” and I let out a little huff that turned into a laugh, opening the door and staring at the triumphant looking Bev who was holding her bike upright at her hip. 

“Better luck next time Tozier,” she laughed and I shook my head as the others filed out around me, grabbing their bikes from where they leaned.

“Damn it, I was hoping I could beat you to the door and wrestle you so I could get there first….” I grabbed my bike as well, flashing Bev a grin.

“Yeah right Rich,” she laughed again, “no offense man but you’re basically a tall stick. If we wrestled I’d break you.” I snorted at that and shrugged, climbing on my bike as I realized we’d started to fall behind our group who had begun to ride off. 

“Fuck, fair enough,” I let out a breath that was sort of a laugh, “lets go swim,” My feet spun the pedals on my bike and I looked back at her with a smile before looking back to where the other losers were, pedaling a bit faster to catch up with Eddie again. 

“Trying to ditch me, spaghetti?” I called, letting go of half my handlebars to flick him on the shoulder as I rode up and flashing him a grin.

“I thought I told you not to call me that.. But I guess I shouldn’t have expected that to stop you,” He looked at me and after a second smiled before looking back to the road with a small scream as he crashed his bike into the back of Stan’s, causing them both to nearly fall over. I snickered as they both corrected themselves. He’d been distracted by looking at me… That was pretty cute. 

“What are you laughing about, trashmouth? We could have gotten hurt!” Eddie interrupted my thoughts, glaring at me, looking at me again funnily enough.

“Hey eyes on the road, Eds,” I smiled at him, “don’t want that to happen again right?” I saw his face get red and he looked back to the street in front of him, grumbling something under his breath in the endearing way he sometimes did. We sped up as we all got closer to the quarry, skidding to a stop at a dirt path and collectively ditching our bikes in a bush. I ran ahead onto the path, excited to swim with my friends and smiled to myself when I saw Eddie following me. 

“It’s so fucking hot today… It’ll be nice to get in the water,” he sighed and I looked at him, smirking.

“Yeah, it is pretty fucking hot, almost as hot as--” I started, but Eddie cut me off.

“DON’T say it.” He huffed, turning on me with a finger pointed in my chest. I laughed and raised my hands in defense, giving him a little shrug and walking backwards down the path, facing him. 

“Okay, okay.. Wanna race to the quarry?” I asked, spotting our friends starting to catch up to us. 

“Sure, you prepared to be beat twice in one day?” His eyebrow raised a bit and he smiled a little mischievously at me. I grinned back. 

“Fuck you!” I chirped and took off down the path, hearing Eddie yelp behind me and then the pounding of his feet on the ground before they quieted and I heard the puff of his inhaler. I slowed down. Shit, forgot about that for a second. I turned around just in time to catch him sprinting past me, looking determined. “Shit!” I chased after him. He actually WAS going to beat me… I sped up, stopping when I saw him already at the cliffs, red faced and breathing hard with his hands on his knees. He puffed his inhaler again and then looked up at me with a victorious grin, holding his fist up in the air. 

“Told you, Richie! Twice in one --” he paused, puffing his inhaler again, “Twice in one day, asshole!” He looked so fucking happy. I grinned, walking up to him and bumping his shoulder.

“Fuck off, I let you win,” I turned away from him to look at the water for a moment and heard him scoff behind me.

“Yeah right, loser,” He shuffled, and I turned around again, catching him tugging his shirt off over his head and looking quickly to the bushes where our friends were finally emerging from. 

“Damn you guys didn’t have to run ahead..” Mike called out to us. Bill and Stan were already pulling their shirts off to swim. I tugged mine off over my head as well and undid my belt, leaning down to undo my shoes as well so that I could swim. Once I was undressed and in my boxers I stood again and looked to my friends in time to watch Beverly leap off of the quarry’s edge and into the water. Bill followed her and Ben and Mike followed him. Stan looked back to Eddie and I who were still on the cliffs. 

“You guys wanna jump together?” He asked and Eddie and I nodded as he counted to three. We jumped on three and I clutched my glasses to my face as we plummeted down into the water, the cold a relief on our skin warmed by the sun and from running. I let myself sink down under it, watching bubbles from my breath float to the surface before I followed them up, taking a deep breath when my head hit air. I swam towards the group of my friends who were happily paddling in the sun and splashed at Eddie and Stan who laughed and splashed me back. Bill spat some water at mike who laughed and sent an arc of water his way hitting him, Beverly, and Ben. I smiled wide, enjoying the sight of everyone I loved having a good time together, and let out a little whoop, diving beneath the water and watching everyone from beneath the surface. I held my breath, eyes drifting to where Eddie’s legs were beating at the water. I let out a little air, letting my eyes linger for way longer than I should have before resurfacing in front of him. He screamed and I laughed, earning me a small shove backward.

“You scared the shit out of me, asshole!” He glared at me, face red and I splashed him. He splashed me back, hitting me square in the face and I grinned, spitting water back at him which made him squeal. “Eww! You’re getting it in your mouth dude thats gross!” He swam backwards from me and I opened my mouth to show him the slightly algae tinted water.

“Wanna try some?” I asked, water sloshing out of my mouth and he splashed me again, looking disgusted and like he was about to say something before he was cut off by a loud yell.

“Chicken fight!!” It was Beverly, and she was on top of a very flustered looking Ben’s shoulders in the shallows. “Come on who wants to take us on??” She held her arms out and I looked at Eddie who looked back at me before we both started swimming quickly towards them.

“We do! Bring it on!” I called, water getting into my mouth a little with the effort of swimming and talking. I heard Eddie laugh from next to me as we got closer and I stood up in the now shallower water, my head and shoulders out of the water. “Eds, looks like you’re gonna be the arms ‘cos you’re too short to be the legs,” I turned to look at him and he glared at me, getting closer.

“Fuck you, dude.” He came up to me and put his hands on my shoulders, staring me in the eyes and I lost focus for a second, my eyes starting to drift over him before he shoved me under the water. Right. Chicken fight. That’s what we were doing. I crouched down a little more and felt his legs slide over my shoulders, standing again when I was sure he was situated and taking a breath.

“Coulda drowned me you know,” I complained and he swatted the top of my head, shushing me. “Fine fine,” I sighed, trying as hard as I could not to focus on Eddie’s thighs pressing against my neck. “Lets beat these two,” I added, grinning up at him. “Hope you’re ready to do some ultimate smacking,” I patted one of his legs and he grinned back. 

“Why don’t you ask your mom! I mean-- your-- your mom’s ass! Damn.. I fucked that up.” He looked a little disappointed in himself but I seemed to cut off any of those thoughts with how hard I started laughing.

“My-- my mom’s-- Eds-- Gahahaha” I tipped forward a bit, almost throwing him off of my shoulders but tensed up when I felt his thighs grip me to keep himself from falling off. “Woah sorry I was --”

“Can we fight already?” Ben was the one who cut me off and Beverly nodded enthusiastically from his shoulders.

“Yeah quit stalling and let us knock you over,” She crossed her arms over her chest and I huffed.

“Yeah right! Push her down Eds!” I moved towards them and Eddie let out a sound that was almost a playful war cry, thrusting his arms out and locking them with Bev’s. I locked my legs, grabbing onto Eddie’s to hold him onto me as he tousled with Beverly before letting go of him with one arm to combat Ben’s arms coming out to shove at me. I heard Eddie yelp as Bev almost twisted him off of me and decided to just ram my body into the two of them, causing all four of us to topple over into the water in a twister mix of arms, legs, and raucous laughter. We swam and splashed for a while more, other chicken fight teams forming as I swam to a much shallower area, sitting down in the water to watch everyone have fun with a little sigh. Eddie noticed me and followed me to come sit, and soon we were joined by the other members of the losers club, all of us sitting together in the shallows catching our breath. I smiled softly, glad we could all still enjoy days together like this before I decided to ruin the almost summer-like mood.

“Ah,” I sighed, “It’s times like these I almost forget we had math homework.” That comment earned me a groan from several members of our group and Stanley stood up in the water, huffing.

“I forgot about homework.. I should probably go home soon I need to do that…” He looked to the others who were grumbling similar things and Eddie shot me a glare for what I could only assume was ruining our fun times. I shrugged at him and stretched out in the water for a moment before I stood as well. 

“We should probably start making our way back to the cliffs now then…” I held out my hand to Eddie and he took it this time, standing up and moving towards the shore. I followed him, taking off my glasses for a moment and shaking water out of my hair. I looked down at them, blurry in my hand and hummed. “It’s a miracle these stayed on my face when we were chicken fighting…” I mumbled half to myself before starting to walk back up to where our belongings and clothes were. I turned back for a second to make sure the others were following me and upon seeing that they were, continued to walk towards our stuff, pausing only for a moment to let Eddie walk next to me. He didn’t say anything as we walked but I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes seemed to wander over me for a second every time it seemed like I wasn’t paying attention to him. It was probably just my imagination though, not a big deal, nothing for me to dwell on (even though I probably would anyway). We finally reached the top of the cliffs and I walked over to my belongings, starting to put my clothes back on to my still very damp body, cringing a little at the feeling of my shorts going on over my wet boxers. I sat on the ground when I was finished getting dressed, watching Eddie tying his shoes. He looked like he was concentrating so hard but he always looked like that when his eyebrows furrowed in the way that they did when he focused on anything. It was really attractive, I couldn’t help but notice, not that I hadn't noticed before. My eyes drifted to his freckled cheeks, pink from the sun, and then, for just a moment, to his lips. I shook my head and he looked up, tilting his head.

“You okay, man? You got water in your ears or something?” He blinked and I shook my head, standing from the ground where I’d been sitting. 

“Ah.. Nah I’m alright. Just thinking about your mom again is all.. Shes just so sexy dude. Literally my wettest dream.” Eddie took his shoe off and chucked it at me. It hit me in the chest and I laughed, tossing it back at him. That joke was so foolproof. The ultimate deflection. I’d never stop using it. 

“Hurry up slow pokes!” Stan called. The others were already ready and standing at the treeline. I turned to look at Eddie again and saw him quickly putting his shoe back on. He stood, running over to where the others were and I followed him, catching up and trailing behind them as we all trudged down the path back to where our bikes were. I yawned, drained of energy by the sun and kicked a rock in the path in front of me. It skidded into the bushes startling a lizard that darted out into the path in front of Eddie who screamed and jumped into me grabbing onto my arm.

“Gah what the fuck is that??” He yelped, causing Bill and Mike to turn around and look. I laughed and the lizard darted into a bush on the other side of the path. 

“Chill, spaghetti, it’s just a lizard,” I felt him loosen his grip on my arm and looked at him. His face was red and he looked embarrassed with himself. I clapped him on the shoulder reassuringly and we kept walking down the path, reaching the bush with our bikes soon after. I pulled mine from the leaves, brushing it off and dragging it to the roadside. 

“I’m gonna ride home guys,” I stated, mounting my bike and turning it towards the road. 

“Wait-- I’ll come with you,” Eddie was dragging his bike out of the bush and over to where mine was. “Your house is on the way to mine anyways,” He looked at me and I nodded, looking to the others and giving a little wave.

“See you guys tomorrow.” They nodded and I started to pedal off, hearing Eddie give his goodbyes as well before catching up to me again. 

“Today was fun,” he mused softly, glancing at me before glancing back to the road. I nodded and hummed, tilting my head up to look at the sun that was starting to get lower in the sky. 

“And hey you’ll be home before sunset and everything so your mom wont get mad, right?” My gaze shifted back to him and he frowned, shrugging. 

“I dunno… I guess probably not but who knows..” He sighed, slowing down on his bike and I slowed to match him, trying to read his expression. “It’s fine though,” He chirped, seeming to snap out of whatever funk he had been in, although his eyes hadn’t changed. I was sure it wasn’t actually fine and frowned but didn’t say anything, just kept biking next to him in silence until I could see my house coming up on the street. I stopped my bike out front, letting it just fall over in front of my house and turning to Eddie. 

“Good luck at home, Eds,” I gave him a little wave, wanting to invite him back in but knowing he’d get in trouble for saying yes. He nodded and waved back, looking a little sullen. 

“See you tomorrow, trashmouth,” he murmured a bit affectionately and I watched him ride off towards his house. I sighed deeply, picking my bike back up from where I’d let it drop and wheeling it over to the side of my house where I left it leaning, walking to the door and inside to flop down on my bed with a groan. Okay, so my feelings were definitely getting worse. Definitely. I took off my glasses and ground the palms of my hands into my eye sockets, trying to get my shit together for a second. I rolled onto my side, putting my glasses back on and letting my eyes refocus. I spotted my backpack and sighed again. I should probably have at least a little homework done by the time I had to go to class again. I pulled it closer to me, hoping to maybe distract myself from thinking about Eddie by doing something productive for once and started to rummage through it, pulling out my math book and some papers. I groaned, looking over the assignment. 

“Fuck this….” I muttered to myself, “I shoulda done this shit earlier..” I stared at it for a second. Factoring, huh? I had not been paying attention to this chapter. I shoved everything back into my bag and decided I’d maybe try and take a nap or maybe go to bed early or something, swimming in the sun for a lot of the day had tired me out anyway and I knew I wouldn’t be working on my homework any time soon. I shoved my backpack off of the bed onto the floor and rolled onto my side, stretching a little and removing my glasses again to place them next to my bed. I yawned. Shit I was tired.. And warm.. I yawned again, letting my eyes flutter closed and sighing softly as I felt myself drift out of consciousness and into sleep. 

_ “Richie...” _ It was a familiar voice, Eddie’s voice, but it was softer, almost a sigh. Everything felt soft and warm. Lips, there were his lips, and skin, warm and freckled and kissed by the sun, and something else…. _ “Richie…” _ I heard him sigh again and shuddered a bit where I was, I could feel him, he was everywhere, he was everything. _ “Eddie….” _ I sighed, pressing into the unknown sensation, _ “Eddie….. Eddie… E--” _ I jolted awake, my body still rocking into the bed slightly. I sat up sharply, cheeks flushing as my half asleep brain put together what had happened. 

“Shit…” I mumbled to myself in the dark of my room. I had no idea what time it was but I knew I probably wouldn’t be going back to sleep any time soon. I flopped back against my pillows, wiping sweat from my forehead before throwing my arm over my eyes. Fuck it, I’d deal with that later.


	3. school sucks, I know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i know i modified a blink 182 song lyric for the title sh sh sh

I couldn’t stop dreaming about him. Literally. Every time I closed my eyes my brain somehow managed to concoct a new scenario. It was becoming a problem and majorly impacting my sleep. Thank fuck the school day was almost over.. I flopped down at the lunch table and yawned, too sleepy to take in anything really that my friends had been saying and instead resolving to just stare absentmindedly in Eddie’s direction. It wouldn’t bother me so much I’d think, the dreams that is, if they didn’t leave me feeling guilty every time I saw him afterward. In fact, if it wasn’t for the guilt I’d say I enjoyed dreaming about him quite a lot. I sighed and he looked away from Mike who had been talking to glance my way.

“You okay, dude? You’ve been weirdly quiet all day…” He looked a little worried and I couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he cared enough to be concerned. I shrugged, shifting a little in my seat and lifting my glasses halfway to rub at one of my eyes.

“Mh? Yeah man, sorry, just super tired from fucking your mother last night, didn’t you hear me come over?” I smiled sleepily and he scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“I shouldn’t have even asked..” He muttered, but the worried look was still lingering in his eyes. I tried to ignore it, letting my brain at least attempt to focus on whatever Mike had been talking about, which seemed to be what colleges we’d all be attending next year. I let myself zone out again, resting my chin on my arms on the table before Bev nudged me with her elbow.

“What about you, Richie?” She looked down at me and lifted my head, looking a little confused.

“Hm? What are we talking about? College right? Dunno if I’ll go yet, kinda seems like a waste of money,” I shrugged and Eddie’s head whipped around, looking incredulously at me.

“What are you talking about? Have you not applied?? Don’t you know you’ll never get a good job if you don’t go to college? That’s so stupid Rich….” He blinked and I looked at him, letting out a little breath of laughter.

“‘Course I will, Eds. I’ll just be a comedian or something because I, if you haven’t noticed, am fucking hilarious.” I held out my arms as if taking in praise and saw the group collectively roll their eyes at me. “Come on guys, don’t say you haven’t noticed!” I exclaimed, holding my arms out wider as a little smile crept onto my face. “Eddie’s mom’s noticed,” I snorted and Beverly shoved me lightly.

“You make that joke way too much,” She commented softly and I shrugged again, glancing at her and then to Eddie who was looking red faced and angry from my comment.

“Yeah but it still works every time,” I nudged her, nodding in Eddie’s direction and she let out a soft laugh which seemed to make him more mad. He was so goddamned cute when he was mad.. He shot both of us a glare.

“It’s not funny! It’s gross!” He complained and I just laughed again, hefting myself up from the table.

“Yeah, yeah. Anyway I think I’m gonna ditch last period, I wanna go home and nap or something, I’m so fucking tired...” I stretched my arms out over my head with a yawn before looking back to my friends. 

“I don’t think you should do that, Rich…” Stan looked up at me, sounding a little concerned. “Don’t you have a C in that class already?” I sighed and grabbed my backpack from where it had been next to me on the lunch table bench. 

“Yeah but I didn’t do my homework anyways so me being there or not won’t make a difference.” I heard Eddie make a groaning sound and looked at him a little confused.

“I TOLD you we should have done that yesterday,” he huffed and I grimaced slightly, remembering how I’d tossed his notebook aside the day before. 

“You can copy mine if you need to, Rich,” Bev chimed in helpfully and I whined, sliding back down into my seat from where I was standing. 

“Ughhhhh fine… I’ll go to class then I guess…” I pulled out my math notebook as Bev slid hers over to me and began copying down the problems.

“Thanks, Bevvie…” I murmured and she hummed approvingly before getting back into conversation with the others. 

I half-assedly scribbled down Bev’s answers into my own notebook, not really caring enough to make it look like I actually did any of the work myself, and slid her notebook back to her as the bell rang, signaling our last class. I stood, waiting for Eddie and Beverly since we shared math as our last class of the day and waved to Stanley, Bill, Mike, and Ben who were filing off to seperate classes for last period. I noticed briefly that Ben and Bev had been holding hands and raised an eyebrow at her but she just gave me a little smile and a shrug before grabbing her bag and turning to walk to class. 

“So did you actually get homework done yesterday?” I turned to Eddie as we walked, my voice half drowned out by other people talking in the halls. He shrugged, looking at his feet for a moment and then looking back up at me. 

“I don’t really have the choice not to in my house man…” He huffed a little breath and I shot him a sympathetic look. As much as I gave him shit about his mom I had to admit, the woman was a fucking helicopter and really didn’t let Eddie get away with slacking in school even a little. 

“You wanna come over after class again?” I tilted my head a little, looking probably a little more hopeful than I wanted to. “We can actually work on homework this time I promise, scouts honor!” I slapped my hand over my heart and heard Eddie snort.

“You’re not a fucking boyscout, asshole,” he retorted but he was smiling and after a moment gave me a little nod. “Sure though… Honestly I’d rather hang out at your house than mine right now…” He looked away again and didn’t elaborate and I’ll admit I felt worry pricking at me again but I didn’t say anything about it, instead just smiling and attempting to distract him from whatever he was seemingly anxious about. 

“Hey, maybe I can get my mom to make us cookies.. Or like we could make some too, or--”

“Are you two going to ignore me the entire walk to math or what?” Bev called from ahead of us, cutting me off and I flushed, having forgotten for a moment that she was there. 

“Shit sorry Bev,” I murmured, speeding up a bit to catch up with her but making sure Eddie was still close behind me. As we reached the classroom, Eddie paused for a moment, sliding his bag off of his back.

“Hey can you put this in my seat? I’m gonna go to the bathroom really quick.” I nodded and he handed it to me, slipping into the boys restroom across the hall. Beverly nudged me with her shoulder, a mischievous look in her eyes. 

“I’d ask to come over and do homework too but I’m assuming you two want some couple time,” she flashed me a smile and I felt my face get red hot, my mouth trying to form a response that wouldn’t seem to come out. She just patted me on the shoulder with a little laugh and winked. “Don’t worry, Rich, I won’t tell anyone,” with that she slid into the classroom and I stood there for a moment with my brain flatlining before I followed her inside, sitting down and putting Eddie’s backpack into the chair next to me. I flashed a glance at her and she just smiled back. Fuck. So it was obvious... I hoped only to Beverly, she was a bit more perceptive than the other members of the losers club but still. The fact that someone figured it out without me telling them had me worried. I drummed my fingers against the desk absentmindedly and tried not to jump when Eddie slid into the seat next to me, placing his bag on the floor and breaking my train of thought. 

“Can we watch a movie after we do homework later?” He looked at me, pulling his notebook from his bag and opening it to the homework we had due and I nodded, pulling my own out again and opening it as well. I glanced at Eddie’s. His handwriting was so neat and concise, the polar opposite of my chicken scratch but so absolutely in character for him. 

“What movie?” I questioned, looking back to my own notebook for a second. Shit. I had forgotten to copy about five of the problems. Whatever. I looked back to Eddie who shrugged. “There’s a new scary one I haven’t been able to watch yet,” I suggested and watched him scrunch his nose up, eyebrows pinching together a bit with it.

“Mm.. I don’t really like horror but maybe,” He looked back to his notebook, appearing to be checking his homework. I knew he didn’t really like watching scary movies but I also knew how much he liked to cling onto whoever was nearest (usually me) whenever he got scared of anything. I wondered for a second if it was morally acceptable to scare my friend for the sake of having him cling to me but was brought out of that thought process by our teacher entering the classroom and beginning to start the lesson for the day. I tore my homework out of my notebook to pass to the front with the rest of the class’s work, ignoring the little look of disapproval the teacher shot me for skipping several questions and not showing any work. I hated this class and she knew it, it was honestly weird to me that she expected me to try at all. I’d had fucking senioritis since freshman year and I made it pretty goddamned obvious that I wasn’t going to put any work in. It was one of the reasons I'd been held back a year in the first place. She began talking, and I started to zone out, snapping back to reality only when Eddie nudged my leg with his foot, nodding to the front of the class. I rolled my eyes and decided it’d be more fun to try and get a reaction out of him in the mostly quiet classroom. I tore a small section of my note paper, scribbling something on it and then grinning before passing the note to Eddie.

_ If you dont wanna watch a horror movie later we can always watch me and your moms sex tape instead _

I watched him read the note and heard him breathe in sharply through his nose before he balled up the note and threw it at my head. I ducked and it hit a girl behind me in the face who yelped a little “hey!” and caused the teacher to turn around from the board, looking around the room with an accusatory glance. Eddie sat up sharply in his chair, clearly trying not to look guilty. It didn’t matter anyway though, our teacher wasn’t even looking at him, she was looking at me. 

“Mr. Tozier,” She glowered at me, “if you don’t want to stay after class I don’t want to hear any more disturbances.” Her eyes were serious and I breathed a sigh, nodding. I did NOT want to get detention today, especially since Eddie and I had plans. 

“Yes ma’am,” I said, saluting her and heard Eddie snort from next to me. I flipped him off as soon as she turned around again and he smiled at me, rolling his eyes. 

Class seemed to last for-fucking-ever. I caught myself staring at the clock several times but that only made time seem to go slower. Finally the bell rang and I stood up in my seat quickly, grabbing my backpack off the floor and shoving my notebook inside.

“Fucking finally!” I exclaimed, sitting down on my desk for a moment as I watched Eddie packing his stuff up. Beverly, who cared about school only a little bit more than I did, was already ready and came to stand beside me for a moment. 

“Hey do you guys mind if I ditch you to find Ben?” She glanced between the two of us and I shook my head. “Kay, cool, see you guys tomorrow then!” She waved and skipped out the door. 

“Bye Bev!” Eddie called after her and zipped his bag, looking around for a second to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. 

“C’mon Eds, hurry up lets goooo I don’t want to be in this shitty room anymore,” I whined, shuffling my feet a little and he smacked me lightly.

“Shut up, I’m ready,” He pulled his bag on and started walking to the door. I followed him, excited to get to hang out and more importantly not be at school any longer than I was obligated to be. We walked down to the front of the school where our bikes were locked up and I ran to unlock mine, pulling it out of the stands and waiting for Eddie to do the same. He had just started to unlock his bike when his phone rang and he frowned, fishing it out of his pocket and looking at the screen. I saw his expression shift and he sighed before answering in a quiet voice.

“Hi, mommy, is everything okay?” I raised an eyebrow at the fact that he still called her that and breathed a little laugh through my nose. Then I saw Eddie's face. I could hear his mother yelling at him over the phone and he looked like he was shrinking in on himself a little bit. “But I---” I heard her yell over him as he tried to protest. “But we were just going to do homework…” My heart sank. Ah, so the phonecall was about me. Or more specifically him hanging out with me. “Okay.. Okay.. Yes.” He was just agreeing with her now, sounding a bit defeated before ending the call with, “okay, I love you too, mommy…” He hung up the phone and looked at me, his expression looking almost like he’d just witnessed an accident. “I’m grounded apparently..” He murmured and I frowned, eyebrows knitting together. 

“What the fuck for??” I exclaimed, sounding a little angrier than I’d meant to. I instantly regretted it from the way he shrunk back from my tone.

“I dunno… She said I came back too late yesterday.. And..." He paused, "and she doesn’t like you…” His eyes fell to the ground at the last part and his voice got quiet. “Please don’t be mad, Rich….” He was staring at his shoes and the look on his face made me want to hug him. Instead I reached out a hand to cup his face, turning it up from the ground.

“It’s okay, man. I’m not mad. Do you want me to ride home with you? I can stay out of view if that makes it better…” He looked up at me and I let my hand drop away from his face as he nodded, moving to unlock his bike the rest of the way. 

“Yea.. That’d be cool, thanks dude..” He sighed, pulling his bike to the sidewalk and mounting it. I followed him and did the same and we started to ride off in the direction of his house. 

“Hey..” I started, getting an idea that was probably a bad one. “If you still want to hang out later I could come sneak you out while she's asleep? You’re small enough to fit through your window right?” I looked at him and saw a small smile creep onto his face. 

“I mean I guess… I’m not that short you know..” He huffed a little breath but was clearly considering the idea. We rode up to the street his house was on and I paused, figuring I should probably stop there before his mom saw me and he got into more trouble.

“So…. I’ll come by later then?” I asked, sounding hopeful and he looked thoughtful again for a moment before nodding.

“You know what? Fuck it. Sure. Come sneak me out later I don’t care if she kills me.” He smiled a little nervously and I grinned widely back at him.

“Awesome, I’ll bring snacks! Catch you later,” I waved and he nodded, waving as well.

“I’ll text you when she’s asleep,” he added and I gave a thumbs up, turning my bicycle in the direction of my house and riding off. I smiled to myself. Tonight was going to be a good night, I could feel it. 


	4. here in my bedroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> >:^)

I couldn’t stop smiling as I stockpiled snacks in my bedroom, preparing to sneak Eddie out of his house as soon as I was able to. It occurred to me that this was probably the first time he’d ever snuck out of the house too, which was an exciting thought. Sure he’d left without asking a couple of times but after being grounded an excessive amount for it over the years he’d gotten a lot more cautious. I paused, looking over the pile of snack foods in the middle of my floor and hummed. It was missing something. That’s when it hit me: alcohol. I stepped out of my room, looking around for my mom as I walked into the kitchen. I didn’t see her anywhere and satisfied with her absence went to swoop a bottle from her liquor cabinet, choosing a half empty bottle of vodka before sneaking back to my bedroom with it. Perfect. Now all that was left to do was wait until he texted me. It was already dark and I knew his mom went to bed sort of early, so it was only a matter of time. I sat on the corner of my bed, drumming my fingers a bit anxiously on my lap and trying to ignore the way my hands were sweating. Finally, after what seemed like years but was probably under 30 minutes, my phone chimed and I looked down at it, grinning when the screen displayed one new text from Eddie Spaghetti:

_ She’s asleep, I’ll meet you at the street corner. _

I texted him that I was on the way, tucking my phone into my pocket and heading out, quietly shutting the front door behind me so I wouldn’t wake my mom up before grabbing my bike from the side of my house and riding off toward Eddie’s street. I skidded to a stop when I spotted him at the street corner under the light, nervously checking his phone with his bike leaning on his hip. He looked up when he heard me and I waved, grinning as I watched him mount his bike and ride over.

“Hey, can we go before I change my mind about this?” He whispered, even though we were more than far enough away from his house that no one could possibly hear him. I nodded, noticing how nervous he seemed and turned to start biking towards my house. 

“It’ll be fine, Eds, don’t worry,” I reassured him and saw him nod, although he didn’t look convinced. Luckily, it didn’t take too long to get back to my house and we quietly leaned our bikes up against the side, sneaking as silently as we could back through the front door. I tripped on the front porch as I went to close it behind us, knocking into the wall softly and Eddie held a finger to his lips. I let out a little breath of laughter and tugged him towards my room, shutting the door behind us and then breathing out a sigh. “Okay, we can talk now.” I flopped down on my bed with a little smile and watched Eddie slump down into the chair in the corner before his eyes shifted to the pile of snacks and other amenities I’d prepared for the night.

“Um, Rich…? What the fuck is that?” He nodded to the vodka and I shrugged almost a little sheepishly, laying back on the bed a little more. 

“Well I mean…. It’s your first time sneaking out right? Thought I’d maybe make it more exciting.” I stared at him, trying to read his expression. He looked at the bottle again, then back to me before shrugging.

“Fuck it I guess,” He replied and I smiled, a little surprised that he was actually going for it. 

“Anyway it’ll either make the movie we’re gonna watch really funny or even fucking scarier so I thought it’d be interesting,” I slid down off my bed onto the floor, picking up a DVD for a slasher film that I’d been wanting to see but secretly didn’t want to watch by myself. 

“Aw, no, Richie… We’re not going to watch a horror movie while it’s dark out, are we?” He shifted in the chair and I looked up from the movie at him. “I still have to bike home in the dark later you know… I can’t just stay here my mom’ll think I got fucking kidnapped in the morning…” He already looked a little freaked out and I almost felt bad about my film selection. Almost. 

“I can go back with you later, y’know so you won’t have to be alone?” I suggested, rolling my eyes a little at the kidnapping comment. Anyone but his mother could see he was too old for that but to her he was still a baby. He seemed to consider my offer for a moment before giving me a little nod. 

“Okay, but you can’t go back on that.” He looked at me sternly and I nodded, crossing my heart with my fingers which seemed to satisfy him. I put the movie into my DvD player, turning on the television I had facing my bed and threw some of the snacks up onto my bed, grabbing the vodka bottle and climbing onto it before patting the spot next to me for Eddie to join me. He complied, settling into the spot beside me and opening a package of fruit snacks. He glanced at me and I held up the vodka bottle, swirling the clear liquid around inside the half empty glass vessel with a little smile before I opened the top and took a swig, my nose wrinkling at the burning sensation of it going down my throat. I wiped my lips and held the bottle out to Eddie who took it, looking it over for a second.

“Where the fuck did you even get this anyway?” He looked at me and I just shrugged.

“Stole it from my mom, she probably won’t notice.” I grabbed a pack of cookies and ripped it open, shoving one into my mouth and getting crumbs on myself.

“Richie! That’s how you get ants!” He exclaimed, evidently ignoring my comment about where I’d acquired the vodka as he brushed crumbs off of me. 

“You gonna drink some of that or…?” I looked at the bottle and he shot me a look before rolling his eyes and taking a pull from the bottle, pulling it away from his lips with a little cough and an almost strained expression. I laughed. “Too much for you to handle?” I teased, reaching out to take the bottle back from him but he just clutched it and shot a glare at me, seeming to take my comment as a challenge as he took another pull from the bottle, mimicking his earlier reaction almost exactly. Cute. 

“I can handle it,” He huffed, before handing the bottle back to me and pouring the entire packet of fruit snacks into his mouth. “Tastes fucking gross though…” He muttered around the gummy candies and I laughed, leaning back against my pillows a little and focusing on my TV screen as the movie started to play. The beginning was mostly uneventful and I quickly turned my attention back to Eddie and the vodka, stretching out on my bed before turning on my side to face him. He looked at me and shifted a bit closer and I wondered for a second if I was just drunk already as I watched him turn his attention back to the screen. I took another couple gulps from the vodka bottle, coughing at the taste this time and went to recap the bottle but Eddie took it from me, looking at me out of the corner of his eyes as he took a gulp of it, gagged a little, and then put the bottle in his lap, recapping it.

“Fuck I can’t drink more of this…” He mumbled, letting the bottle roll in between the two of it. I took it and placed it on my bedside table, humming in agreement.

“Mm yeah I probably shouldn’t drink more either.. Not without chaser anyway...” I looked back to the screen in time to catch the first jump scare of the night. It wasn’t too bad but I heard Eddie yelp and felt him shift closer on the bed. I swayed toward him slightly, alcohol making me a bit bold.

“You can grab onto me if y’get scared, Eds,” I stared at him for a moment, hearing him make a little “hmph” noise through his nose as his cheeks reddened a little.

“‘M fine…” He mumbled, but he shifted the tiniest bit closer again and I smiled to myself, looking back to the movie again. It wasn’t long, of course, until there was another jumpscare. The slasher onscreen was hunting people from the darkness, popping out when they least expected it and killing them gruesomely. I heard Eddie whimper next to me and shifted to sit up the tiniest bit. 

“Y’okay Eddie spaghetti?” It sounded a little teasing, but I was kind of worried. He was clutching at the sleeves of his jacket and looked like he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the screen. 

“Uh..” He mumbled, my words sort of breaking him out of it. Sort of. “Can I still grab onto-- AAAH!” The slasher came out of nowhere on the screen and he squirmed into my side, grabbing onto me. “Fuck, Rich..” I tried not to let my face heat up but it was already hot from the vodka. I looked down at him. 

“D’you wanna watch something else..?” I asked, my voice softer than it normally got and he hesitated for a second before he shook his head.

“No… I’m… Mmm if you don’t mind if I stay like this I‘m fine..” He was staring at his hands and fiddling nervously with his sleeves. My heart felt like it was pounding in my ears. I let out a little breath. 

“Y-yeah,” I gulped, “yeah that’s totally fine…” I looked down at him and saw his eyes flash up to me for a moment before he looked back to the screen and I smiled a little nervously, trying to focus on the movie and not the way he practically crawled on me with every scare. I shifted slightly on the bed, moving my arm back behind my head so it sort of circled Eddie as well and he rolled onto his side, looking at me before he moved a little closer. I blinked, staring at him in a sort of hazy confusion. He was so close, and he was staring back at me with deep brown eyes swimming with something I couldn’t quite read. Before I could form another thought I felt his lips make contact with mine and I froze. Holy shit. Was this happening? He pulled back from me with an almost horrified expression and sat up sharply on my bed. I tried to formulate words but I felt like my brain had been shut off. 

“Holy shit Rich I’m--” He moved back from me on the bed, shifting so he was standing and backing away clapping his hands over his mouth. “I’m so sorry--” It was muffled and I heard him hiccup a sound that was probably a soft sob as I tried to get my stupid mouth to say something.

“Eds it’s..” I could see tears welling at his eyes and he had backed against my door like he was ready to bolt but he was swaying a little from the alcohol. I moved to approach him, putting my hands up as if I was trying to calm a scared animal. “It’s okay, I--” I didn’t know what to say. I love you? I’ve been having sex dreams about you so drunk kissing me is fine? I stammered for a moment, staring at him pleadingly and hoping he could just read me. “Fuck I can’t get my.. My stupid fucking brain to work but I--” I moved towards him again and he looked anxious and scared but didn’t run, just dropped his hands from his face. I could see his lip trembling and closed the distance between us, pressing my forehead to his for a moment. His eyes were searching, and if my mouth couldn’t answer him in one way, maybe it could in another. I pressed forward and kissed him again, feeling him gasp for a moment before he leaned into it, kissing me back with an eagerness that caught me off guard. I made a little noise, my head feeling foggy and light before I pulled back a little bit, trying to control myself a little bit. “Wait--” I breathed, and I watched his eyes flutter half open to stare up at me, looking a little nervous again. “We’re… We’ve been drinking… Should we wait to like…” I blinked at him and shifted, letting out a little anxious laugh, “uh.. Do stuff?” I looked at my feet and heard him breathe a laugh as well, pulling back from me a little.

“Yeah…” He looked down at my hands and took one, turning it over in his palm before lacing our fingers together and humming thoughtfully. “Honestly I kinda thought you liked Bev..” He let out a nervous breath of laughter and I snorted a laugh, my eyebrows furrowing in confusion and amusement.

“Seriously??” I laughed, pulling him back over to my bed and sitting down on the edge. “We’re just friends…” I paused in consideration, laughing again. “Seriously.. Bev… ‘n I thought I was being too obvious all this time..” Eddie smiled, wiping some forgotten tears from his face as he sat next to me on the bed and let his head bump against my shoulder. 

“It's weird how right this feels…” He murmured and I hummed in agreement, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. 

“Yeah…. I wish you could spend the night here….” I sighed, suddenly remembering he had to go home at some point. He moved a little closer to me and I felt him sigh as well.

“Maybe I can tell my mom I’m sleeping at Stanley’s tomorrow night? She’d probably ask to talk to his mother though…” He sighed and I saw him frown, clearly frustrated with his limitations. “What time is it..?” He looked up at me and I fished my phone out of my pocket, groaning when I saw the time. 

“It’s almost 3…. I should probably take you back soon.” I frowned and he sighed again, nodding.

“Okay.. But first,” I felt his hand come up to cup my face before he leaned up and captured my lips in a kiss again. I felt the fingers of his free hand move up to tangle into my hair and I sighed against him, pulling him closer kissing him with desperation for a moment before I pulled back again breathing hard, not wanting to get ahead of myself. Eddie whined when I pulled back but didn’t say anything to protest, just nodded after a moment. “Okay.. We should go,” he mumbled, standing. I stood with him and walked with him to my door. 

“Okay, we have to be super quiet until we’re on the street, I don't want to wake my mom up,” I half whispered, opening the door and creeping out of the house, making sure that Eddie was with me before I shut the door as quietly as I could. We grabbed our bikes, trying not to make too much noise despite our tipsiness as we wheeled them into the street and mounted them, starting off towards Eddie’s house.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to sleep because of that movie,” He looked over at me and I hummed, having almost completely forgotten about the movie and the slasher.

“I don’t think I’m gonna be able to sleep because of that kiss,” I replied and I heard him laugh softly, the sound warming my whole body in the cold night air. As we got closer to his house I slowed, not wanting to leave him for the night. I frowned and Eddie slowed to match my speed, biking in silence beside me for a moment before he stopped at his street corner, kicking the kickstand down on his bike. I blinked in confusion but did the same as he walked up to me. “Why are we stopping here?” I stared at him and he moved closer, his face illuminated by the orange glow of the street lamps.

“So I can kiss you again before I go, duh.” He smiled at me and I smiled back, feeling my face warm again as he leaned up to kiss me again, this time short and chaste. His eyes opened and he looked at me as he walked backwards towards his bike, mounting it again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, trashmouth,” he turned his bike towards his house with a little wave and I waved back. 

“See you, Eddie spaghetti.” I watched him ride back to his house, making sure he got back in his window before biking back to my house. I was sure the night air was icy but I couldn’t feel it at all, my body warmed by a feeling I couldn’t quite describe. It seemed as if I almost floated back to my bed, collapsing into it with a sigh and snuggling into the pillows which still sort of smelled like Eddie. I closed my eyes. I was right, tonight had definitely been a good night. 


	5. Bleachers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one gets spicy..... nsfw..... yeah

I felt like I was in a daydream as I got ready for school, which was at least partially because of how fucking exhausted I was from staying up most of the night before. Still, I definitely didn’t regret any of it, and I was both excited and nervous to see Eddie again and maybe finally fucking get to talk about some of this with a sober mind, if that was even possible. I skipped breakfast, instead just shoving a power bar into my backpack for later and grabbing my bike from the front of my house, heading off down the street and grinning when I biked past Eddie’s street and spotted him leaving the house. I slowed to a stop to wait for him and gave him a wave.

“Hey, Spagheds! Wanna ride to school with me?” I watched him speed up, biking up to me before stopping beside me. 

“Hey, don’t call me spagheds but sure, It’d be kinda stupid not to.” He was smiling and I grinned back, starting off on my bike towards the school. 

“Oh you love it,” I laughed and turned to make sure he was following me. Truthfully, I was the one who loved the stupid nicknames, but I could tell despite his protesting that Eddie didn’t hate them, even if he acted like he did. “Gonna be hard for me to keep my hands off you at school today.” I blinked over at him and he seemed to swerve a little, his cheeks getting red as he looked around to make sure no one had heard me. 

“Don’t be so loud…” He mumbled and I rolled my eyes. 

“Eds, people hear me tease you all the fucking time. They’ll only think it’s weird if you make it weird.” Not to mention the fact that people had already been spreading rumors about me being gay since we were in middle school, but I didn’t bring that up. He seemed to consider my words before he shrugged, nodding. 

“I guess you’re probably right.. I’m just… I’ve never done something like,” he paused, “I mean.. What are we even doing? We didn’t talk about it really..” He slowed on his bike and I matched him, shrugging my shoulders. 

“I mean… If you’d want to date me I think that would be really cool.” 

“Like I wouldn’t want to date you..” He rolled his eyes and I smiled, humming to myself for a moment.

“You wanna ditch school? I’d rather just hang out with you somewhere else…” I heard Eddie sigh and he shook his head, glancing at me again.

“I can’t dude, I’m already fucking grounded.. If my mom found out I ditched with you she’d probably never let me see you again..”

“Like she lets you fucking see me in the first place…” I scoffed. “I know she doesn’t like me but fuck, man, you’re my best friend.. She could at least not actively try to keep us apart.” He sighed again and I looked over to see him shrug again looking a little guilty and defeated. 

“I know… But what can I do about it? I’m completely reliant on her for everything man…” I frowned, my lips thinning and let out a breath through my nose before resolving myself to making Eddie feel better. It wasn’t his fault that his mom was the way she was, and he was the one who suffered most from it. 

“Guess I’ll have to keep sneaking you out at night then,” I shot him a grin and his expression shifted a little, his lips turning up into a soft smile. 

“I guess so, yeah. I won’t object.” My smile widened a bit and I opened my mouth to say something else before I was cut off by an only sort of distant shout.

“Hey, losers!” I glanced towards the sound and smiled when I saw Stanley biking towards the two of us, one hand lifted off his handlebars in a wave.

“Hi, Stan!” Eddie called from beside me as Stan caught up with us, falling into line with us in the street. 

“Stan the man,” I greeted with a little nod and he rolled his eyes with a little smile. 

“Glad I caught you two, didn’t wanna have to ride to school alone.” I hummed with a little nod.

“Yeah, thought the same thing when I caught this one leaving his house,” I gestured to Eddie and he swerved to elbow me.

“Don’t call me ‘this one,’ dude…” He sounded a little exasperated and it was kinda funny and definitely more than kinda cute. 

“Okay, okay, if you don’t like that one I’ll go back to spagheds, spaghetti head,” I smiled playfully and he rolled his eyes.

“Why are those my only options?” My smile widened and I shrugged. 

“You like them,” I retorted. Damn, I had wanted to kiss him again before school but now Stan was here… Whatever. It wasn’t as if I didn’t want to see him too, after all he  _ was _ my other best friend, I just wanted to be alone with Eddie a little more. Still, I recognized that those thoughts were selfish and tried to quickly brush them off. Maybe I could get him to come with me and Bev when we snuck off later to go smoke behind the gym, I was sure she wouldn’t have a problem with us being.. Well.. Coupley. Stan brought me out of my thoughts with a little huff of breath. 

“You guys do anything fun yesterday? I had a science test to study for but we’re learning about animal biology now which is pretty cool..” I made a face at the prospect of studying being cool in any way and Eddie shook his head.

“Nah I just did homework, my mom grounded me yesterday for staying out too long at the quarry the other day..” He shot a glance my way and I tried not to let my face betray me too much, I got it, this was a secret thing at least for now. 

“That sucks dude.. Do you know how long you’re grounded for?” I saw Stan look to Eddie who just shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. He opened his mouth to say something but I cut him off. 

“Only until I come over and cheer her up so she forgets he’s in trouble,” I grinned and Eddie once again swerved to bump me, puffing out a breath.

“Fuck you, asshole…” Then he looked to Stan again, “I’ll be able to do stuff again tomorrow I think.. Just have to prove to her that I’m not screwing up my life being friends with this dick or anything,” he gestured to me with his thumb and I snorted. 

“Eddie, baby, you wound me,” I feigned mock hurt, clutching my chest with one hand and almost falling off my still moving bike. Stan let out a little laugh, rolling his eyes and I grinned, repositioning myself on my bike and enjoying watching how red Eddie’s face seemed to get at me calling him baby, even jokingly. 

“Shut up,” he mumbled and I opened my mouth to respond before Stan spoke first.

“You guys are so annoying, I’m regretting catching up to the two of you,” he joked and I smiled at him, shrugging.

“We’re almost at school so you can trade of us out for some of the other losers soon.” As if on cue, I heard a shout and looked to see Bill and Mike waving from the school lawn which we were rapidly approaching. We skidded to a stop and I moved to lock up my bike as the two of them walked up to us. Eddie locked his bike up beside mine and Stan beside his before we connected with our other two friends. Bill and Stan broke off into conversation and I heard Stan say something about thanking Bill for rescuing him from Eddie and I before Mike smiled at the two of us, glancing at me. 

“You finish the English reading, Richie?” He looked like he already knew the answer and I shrugged, opening my mouth before I was cut off by Eddie. 

“Does it look like he knows how to read?” I barked a laugh at that, shooting him a look. 

“Hey, fuck does that mean?” I elbowed him and he grinned and shrugged. I saw Mike almost roll his eyes and I shot him a look. “I didn’t do it though, so I mean maybe he has a point.” He didn’t look surprised, I don’t think it was surprising to anyone anymore when I didn’t have homework done. What WAS surprising was that I hadn’t dropped out yet. 

“I’m not letting you borrow mine this time, man..” He usually did, he was too nice, but I noted that my slacking was finally getting to him and just shrugged, sighing when I heard the bell ring. Fuck, I thought we’d had more time before class. 

“See you in gym, Richie,” Eddie gave me a little wave and I nodded, feeling a little (if not more than a little) annoyed that I had to leave him to go sleep through English class with Mike. We parted ways and I followed the other boy off of the lawn and into the school, giving Stan and Bill a wave over my shoulder. After a moment I hummed, falling into step beside Mike in the halls. 

“So, finally sick of me copying off you, eh Mikey?” I grinned at him and he made a little “tch” sound which turned into a breath of laughter. 

“Honestly nah, but our teacher’s catching on,” he shrugged at me and I smiled in amusement, rounding the corner into our classroom with him and taking my seat as he slid into his beside me. The teacher began to take roll moments later and I put my head down on the desk, glancing at Mike and watching him at least try to focus forward, something I wasn’t even about to put on the illusion of doing. First period wasn’t something I’d ever payed attention during, something that was a constant throughout almost all of my school experience. It wasn’t my fault, I’d tell anyone who’d listen, it was cruel and unusual punishment to force kids to focus on learning so early in the fucking morning and should be outlawed. I yawned as the teacher started our lesson for the day, focusing on the reading that had been assigned that I hadn’t even thought about reading. It was pretty easy to tune out, and I found myself absentmindedly scribbling on the desk for most of the class period before Mike leaned over to me, seemingly also bored with what we were doing (or supposed to be doing in my case).

“What’re you drawing?” He whispered and I glanced down, realizing I’d been filling my desk up with little “R+E”s like some sort of lovesick schoolkid. Shit, maybe I was. I scribbled over most of them quickly and just shrugged, looking back to him. 

“Just scribbling.. Want class to be fucking over already,” I mumbled deflectively and heard the teacher sigh, apparently hearing but attempting to ignore my quiet comments. Mike just breathed a laugh, seeming to agree with me at least a little but not continuing the conversation. I put my head down on the desk for the rest of class, hefting myself up from my seat with a little hum when the bell finally rang. I didn’t have to pack anything up, I hadn’t really gotten anything out after all, so instead I just waited for Mike to be ready before we filed out the door together behind several other classmates.As we walked down the hall I saw Mike glance my way. He looked like he wanted to say something to me, but didn’t have a chance to as we neared the gym and Eddie appeared out of thin air from around a corner, nearly barreling into the both of us. 

“Shit---!” He squeaked as I put my hands out in front of me, both to block him from hitting me and to steady him a bit. 

“Woah there.. You okay, dude?” He looked like he’d been running which was sort of unusual.

“Yeah, Eddie, you gotta be more careful..” Mike hummed before seeming to realize something that he didn’t voice and shifting. “Anyway, I’m gonna go meet Stan in math, have fun running the mile in gym.” I groaned but said a quick goodbye as Mike wove his way back through the students in the hall and I turned back to Eddie who was frowning. 

“Didn’t even say bye to him but okay…” He was looking in Mike’s direction before he turned back to me and shrugged. “Should we go change?” I nodded, letting out a breath of air through my nose. 

“Super don’t want to run a mile today.. Did you know we had to do that today?” I walked towards the gym, holding the door open for Eddie who shrugged as he walked through, glancing back at me. 

“No, if I did I probably could have gotten a note from my mom to get me out of it…” I watched his lips thin and then he shrugged a second time. “Whatever.. Maybe I can talk to the coach about my asthma… That’s what I did last year.” He walked over to his gym locker, fiddling with the lock for a moment before opening it as I took my place beside him. 

“Or…” I started, leaning up against my locker instead of opening it. “We could pretend to start the mile and then go hide under the bleachers instead,” I wiggled my eyebrows at him and watched him try to fight an expression of amusement off of his face. Cute. 

“Normally I’d say no to that,” he paused, pursing his lips. “But…” I grinned, moving away from where I’d been leaning to unlock my own locker. 

“Temptation getting the better of you this time?” I batted my eyelashes at him teasingly from behind my glasses and he shoved me lightly with a laugh, my shoulder banging into my locker as he did. 

“Fuck off and get dressed already,” he was smiling at me and I felt my heart warm under his gaze. I grinned back before nodding and opening my locker, just pulling my shorts on over my jeans which earned me a breath of laughter from Eddie. 

“What?” I raised an eyebrow, pulling my shirt off over my head and jostling my glasses as I replaced it with my gym shirt. I noted the way Eddie’s eyes seemed to sweep over my body as I changed before he seemed to shake himself out of it and gestured to my shorts over my jeans. 

“You’re going to get detention again for that.” I just shrugged and flashed him another cocky smile.

“Don’t care. They can’t force me to go I’m my own guardian.” I watched him roll his eyes and shoved my shirt and backpack into my locker, bumping it closed and locking it as Eddie finished getting dressed. “Now let’s go fake a mile!” I winked and bumped my shoulder into his, walking towards the gym exit as he closed his locker and followed me. 

“Don’t be so fucking loud about that, dumbass, you’ll get us in trouble,” Eddie almost hissed at me as he caught up, walking with me out to the field. I smiled, letting my shoulder brush against him as we walked. 

“Fine, fine,” I hummed dismissively, knowing that even if we did get caught for ditching the mile I was the only one who’d probably face any repercussions. We went to sit on the field for roll to be called and I leaned over to Eddie, propping myself up with one arm behind my back. “Can’t wait to be alone with you,” I whispered and silently relished the way his face reddened at my words. 

“Shut up until you are…” He mumbled, shifting on the grass. I huffed a little breath through my nose but just shrugged, moving to stand as our coach finished taking our attendance and starting to walk over to where we’d get instructions for the mile. Eddie trailed behind me, looking slightly nervous. I slowed, bumping against him and shooting him a reassuring look. I got it, he didn’t do things like ditch class or even parts of class, but I did, and I’d done this nearly every time we’d had to run the mile throughout highschool without being caught, so I wasn’t worried. 

“Chill, Kaspbrak, just follow my lead, ‘kay?” He breathed out through his nose and nodded, glancing up at me.

“I’m fine,” I could tell he was still nervous but just nodded in agreement. The coach was laying out a tally system for running laps and Eddie flashed me a panicked glance before I patted my pocket reassuringly and he seemed to get the message. Of course I always had a sharpie in my pocket, how else was I supposed to deface school property? We set up at the start and the coach blew her whistle, starting her timer. I watched the fastest kids - the overachievers who were for some reason still in regular PE and not track - take off ahead of us and rolled my eyes, starting to jog at a pace Eddie could easily keep up with. He kept pace beside me and we fell in with a pack of slower students in silence. As we rounded the first turn on the field and passed the bleachers I grabbed him by the wrist, making sure no one was looking before slipping away from the rest of our class and behind the large stone structure. I grinned. 

“See?” I held out my arms victoriously, “easy as fuck to sneak away from the mile.” I moved closer to him and felt my face get a little warm, watching his cheeks flush slightly as well. “And now,” I paused, moving one hand to cup Eddie’s cheek, staring into his eyes which were wide and eagerly staring back into mine. “I can finally fucking kiss you again--mm!” I was cut off by Eddie doing just that, his lips crashing up into mine with an intensity that I met happily, letting out a little laugh against his lips and pressing my tongue into his mouth. He sighed and pressed his body flush against mine, backing me against the cold stone under the bleachers. I broke the kiss for a moment, lightheaded from the proximity.

“Fuck, Eds..” I breathed and he bit his lip.

“Feels really fucking good to do this sober,” He was just as breathless as I was already and I leaned in to kiss him again, overcome with need for him. To kiss him, to touch him, just to fucking be close to him, fuck I needed him. He seemed to feel the exact same, throwing his arms up around my neck and deepening the kiss. My hands came up to his hips, hovering for a moment before he pressed into me again and I put my hands on him with a little groan. My noise only seemed to spur him on, his hips rolling forward against mine as his tongue explored my mouth. One of my hands drifted over him for a moment before I squeezed his ass and he gasped, biting my bottom lip lightly. 

“Rich..” He sighed and I moaned. Fuck. This was getting out of hand. 

“Eddie I’m..” I breathed, my face feeling hot. I could feel how hard he was against me in his gym shorts already and was straining inside my own pants. He whined and before I could continue his hand moved down from around my neck to grope me through my pants and gym shorts and I made a sound that was almost a choked yelp. “Fuck-- warn a guy--” I breathed, my voice coming out a lot more wrecked than I’d meant for it to. 

“I want… I mean.. Fuck, Richie..” He stared up at me for a moment before his hand moved below the waistband of the shorts I had on over my jeans. “Take these stupid fucking shorts off..” I swallowed and nodded, wiggling them off until they dropped down to my ankles. Eddie paused for a moment before he laughed. Hard. My face flushed.

“What??”

“You look fucking-- hahaha-- you look ridiculous.. Take them off the rest of the way--” he was still snickering and I kicked them off, wrapping one arm around his hips to pull him flush against me again which seemed to remind him of what we’d been doing. 

“Better?” I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth as he nodded, rolling his hips forward against mine lightly and making me sigh. “Fuck, Eddie, you wanna give each other handjobs or something ‘cause otherwise I’m going to die from how hard I am..” 

“You can’t die from that, dumbass,” he retorted but then he bit his lip and nodded, “but yeah.. Definitely yeah.” I ran my tongue over my lips and nodded, my one of my hands wandering down to feel him over his shorts. He whined, pressing his hips against my hand and I bit down on my lip almost hard enough to draw blood. Fuck, how could someone be this cute and this hot at once? I was going to die. 

“You’re so-- fuck--” I tugged down the waistband of his shorts to expose him and he gasped as I sunk to my knees in front of him.

“Rich-- what are you--?” 

“Shh, let me do this..” I breathed, rubbing one hand over his hip and watching him swallow thickly before he nodded.

“O-okay…” I’d almost expected him to make a comment about how unsanitary this would be but he didn’t. His voice sounded small and I stared up at him for a moment, feeling nervous. As often as it had been proclaimed in the school hallways and in random bathroom graffiti that I had a certain amount of expertise, I had not, in fact, ever sucked cock before, and I hoped I wouldn’t.. Well.. Blow at it. I steeled myself, taking his length into one hand and stroking it lightly. I smiled at the warbled sigh that left his lips as his head pitched back slightly and moved forward. The angle was new, I hadn’t really touched anyone other than myself before but I seemed to be doing okay, at least he was apparently enjoying himself. I shifted and pressed a small kiss to his head and he shivered as I darted my tongue out to lick over the tip, his hands coming down to thread into my curls before he hesitated and I paused. 

“You can pull my hair if you want to..” I breathed, blinking up at him before pressing my tongue to him again and letting the tip of his cock slide into my mouth. 

“Fu-- Richie--!” He clapped one hand over his mouth, stifling a loud moan as the fingers of his other hand fisted hard into my hair. I groaned, feeling my cock twitch inside my jeans painfully. Fuck, so I definitly liked Eddie pulling my hair. Good to know. And even better to know I wasn’t absolutely terrible at blowjobs. I sunk a little farther down onto him, my tongue tracing along the underside as I took more of him into my mouth. He was panting hard now, apparently fighting hard to keep his hips still. I let my thumbs rub circles into his hip bone and hummed around him, trying to indicate that it was okay for him to move as I started to bob on him lightly, feeling him hit against the back of my throat and gagging softly. He whined, the hand in my hair tugging on my curls again as he tried to give me a warning. Cute. My hips rolled forward, seeking friction but just causing me to strain against my pants even more. 

“Rich-- I’m-- Fuck I can’t--” he gasped and I hummed a moan around him, not pulling back as he came hard down my throat, thrusting shallowly as his body curled around my head. I swallowed him down as best I could and sucked in a breath through my nose as I came untouched in my pants. Fuck. He pulled back from me, sinking down to where I was and I wiped my lips, panting. 

“How’d I do..?” I rasped, my voice cracking a little. Eddie let out a heavy breath, shifting closer to me. 

“Fucking awesome…” He breathed, eyes shifting to my face. “Let me--” he reached toward me but I stopped him, my face feeling hot. 

“Oh-- I uh.. I already..” I shifted, feeling a little embarrassed. He hadn’t even touched me. 

“Oh..” He blinked, connecting the dots without me having to voice the rest of my statement, thank fuck. I grabbed my gym shorts from where I’d kicked them away and sighed. 

“Yeah I’m-- How fucked up would it be for me to just wear these as boxers the rest of today?” He snorted a sleepy sounding laugh at that and shrugged, tugging his own shorts back up. 

“I won’t tell anyone,” his head fell forward to bump against my shoulder before he seemed to realize something and sat up again. “Fuck how much time do you think we have left of the mile..?” Ah. Right, the fucking mile.

“Dunno… Five minutes?” I shifted, starting to change and wiping any remaining fluids off of myself before just discarding my boxers and replacing them with my shorts. I didn’t miss the way Eddie tried not to stare at me as I did and grinned. 

“You can look you know I just had yours in my mouth.” He almost jumped at that, his head whipping in the other direction as his face went red.

“I’m shy about this shit, okay?” He huffed and I laughed, pulling my pants back on over my shorts. 

“Not too shy to hook up at school but too shy to look at my dick? I see how it is, Eds.” I flopped down again next to him and nudged him and he stuck out his tongue, leaning his head on my shoulder again. 

“Fuck you…” He mumbled and then, “I’ve never done that before…” His voice was soft and I smiled a little. 

“Yeah, me neither..”

“Really?” He blinked at me, looking a little surprised. “You’re good at it… I mean..” He cleared his throat, looking the tiniest bit embarrassed and I let out a little breath of laughter. 

“Yeah, really. Who’s cock would I even have sucked in this town of fucking homophobes? I mean I know people have been saying I suck cock since we were like 12 but come on Eds you can’t believe everything people tell ya.” I nudged him again and he opened his mouth to say something before I heard a voice coming from alarmingly close to where we were hidden. 

“I saw them go back there coach Mertins!” 

“Fuck, we gotta go,” I stood, grabbing Eddie’s hand as the voices got closer and ran, pulling him with me as we darted out from behind the bleachers and along the edge of the field. 

“Where are we going?” He puffed from beside me, already out of breath. I didn’t slow down, keeping his hand in mine. I didn’t want to go back to class and I didn’t care if we got in trouble but I did care if we got caught. 

“We can hide behind the gym in the stairwell,” I breathed, picking up the pace a little. “We’re almost there, me ‘n Bev go back there to smoke.” He nodded, keeping up with me as we rounded the gym. I pulled him into the stairwell, our feet skidding to a stop as we crouched down to not be spotted and Eddie caught his breath, digging his inhaler out of his shorts pocket and puffing it. I watched as our coach and the tattle tail student walked by, still looking for us, and breathed out as they rounded the gym heading in the opposite direction. 

“Okay, I think we’re--” I was cut off by the click of a lighter and turned around to see Beverly sitting at the bottom of the stairwell, looking amused. 

“Hey there, was wondering how long it’d take you two to see me.” She flashed a grin and I sighed a little breath, sitting down on the stairs.

“Fuck, it’s just you.” She clapped a hand over her chest in mock hurt before dragging her cigarette. 

“Just me? Am I not good enough for you on my own, trashmouth? What the fuck are you two running so hard from anyway?” At this point Eddie seemed to finally catch his breath, taking a seat beside me. 

“Coach Mertins almost caught us-- I mean--” He looked panicked for a moment at the near revelation and shot me a pleading glance as if asking for help. I just shrugged. 

“We were under the bleachers ditching the mile.” I didn’t elaborate more than that but Bev seemed to get it anyway, barking out a laugh. 

“Bout time you two finally did something.” I felt Eddie freeze beside him and he shot me a look.

“Did you tell her?!” He accused and I shook my head, opening my mouth to say something but Bev beat me to it. 

“He didn’t tell me anything, a fucking blind person could see that you two have basically been married since we were 12. Congratulations, you’re the last two people to find out you like each other.” She deadpanned and I just let out a laugh, letting myself lean against Eddie a little. 

“Can I bum one of those?” She nodded and tossed her pack to me, watching me fish one out before I tossed it back and fished a lighter out of my pocket to light it. I heard Eddie hum in protest, apparently still processing the fact that Bev had figured out our feelings before we had. I nudged him. 

“You okay man?” I took a drag of the cigarette, holding it for a moment before making sure to blow it away from Eddie who nodded, looking a little thoughtful. 

“I was just.. Yeah.. I wonder if our other friends know.” He glanced at me. “I just kind of thought…” He let out a heavy sigh before leaning into me and closing his eyes. “Maybe this whole thing won’t be as hard as I thought it would be.” I slid one arm around his waist, resting my hand in his lap. 

“You mean the whole.. Us… Thing?” His eyes blinked open and he nodded, remaining silent for a moment before he sighed again. 

“Let’s ditch the rest of the day.” I blinked in surprise before I grinned and Bev chimed in again. 

“Woah, Eddie, you’re suggesting ditching? Richie you’re a bad influence on him.” Despite her words she was smiling proudly at the two of us. I flipped her off playfully, my own smile widening and I turned to Eddie. 

“Wanna go get ice cream? Sorry Bev, I’d invite you but--”

“Don’t bother with the pity invite, it’s better for my sanity if I don’t go with you.” She laughed and I mirrored the sound, shrugging. 

“Fair enough,” I turned back to Eddie whos head was still resting on my shoulder and dragged the cigarette I’d been holding loosely in my hand. “We have to somehow rescue our stuff from our lockers without being caught first..” Eddie groaned, his head tipping back.

“Fuck, I forgot about that,” he shoved me in the side, “how’d I get you to talk me into ditching with all my stuff held hostage in the fucking coach’s den??” I just breathed out through my nose in amusement and shrugged, shifting to peek up out of the stairwell to make sure the coast was clear before pushing myself to my feet and holding a hand out to Eddie who took it and stood as well. 

“You need me to distract the coach for a few minutes? I’ve got a free period.” Beverly snuffed out her cigarette and stood as well, looking between the two of us. I smiled. 

“Beverly Marsh, you fucking angel, that would be superb.” I heard her snort and Eddie nodded.

“Yeah, thanks, Bev.” He smiled at her as well and she gave us a salute. 

“Assisting in juvenile delinquency? My pleasure, boys.” She pushed past the two of us on the stairs and I put out my cigarette on the sole of my shoe, tucking the unsmoked half into my pocket and causing Eddie to wrinkle his nose. 

“You’d better take that out of your pocket before we get ice cream,” he chided and I just rolled my eyes, taking his hand and tugging him in the direction of the boys locker room. Luckily for the two of us, our coach wasn’t actually allowed in our locker room and the male coach didn’t know our faces, so with Bev’s help it wasn’t too hard for us to get in and out with our belongings and soon we were jogging as sneakily as possible out towards the street at the front of our school where our bikes were still locked up. We went to unlock them and I turned to Eddie.

“You should call into the office and call yourself out so your mom doesn’t get a call from the school.” He blinked at me and nodded.

“That’s actually a really good idea, okay.” He nodded, fishing his phone out of his pocket and dialing after a moment. I pulled my bike out of the stands and mounted it, watching him steel himself to talk to a school administrator. After a moment of silence he spoke again, evidently having gotten through. “Hello, this is Edward Kasprak speaking, I’m calling out of the rest of my classes for today, I had an..” He paused for a second and I mouthed something to him. “I had an asthma attack in gym class and need to go home. Okay. Yes, okay. Thank you.” He hung up and gave me a thumbs up before unlocking his bike and climbing onto it. “I hope they don’t call my mom about that..” I just smiled, kicking up the kickstand on my bike and setting off into the street. 

“They won’t, come on. Let’s go.” I turned to make sure he was following me before we took off down the street towards our favorite ice cream shop. I stood up on the peddles as we whipped down the street, the wind flying through my hair as I grinned. “Thank you for finally agreeing to leave that hellhole with me,” I called to Eddie and heard him laugh as he caught up to me, riding beside me in the street. 

“Yeah well.. I didn’t really feel like spending the rest of today in a classroom after the bleachers.” He shot me a smile and I grinned, nodding. 

“Now you know how I feel every fucking day, shit.” 

“Oh shut up, that’s not just ‘cause of me,” he laughed again and we stopped in front of the ice cream shop, kicking the stands down on our bikes and leaving them outside as we walked in together. The girl behind the counter flashed us a smile as we approached, looking between the two of us. 

“Hi, what can I get for you?” As she turned her friendly gaze to Eddie I felt my arm subconsciously move to snake around him before I stopped myself. He had told me no PDA and I was going to at least make an attempt at respecting that. He smiled back at her and ordered a fudge swirl cone, turning to me. 

“What’re you gonna get Richie?” I hummed thoughtfully before asking for two scoops of oreo with a chocolate cone. 

“I’ll pay for both,” I added, digging my wallet out of my pocket as the girl behind the counter - her nametag read “Cindy” - gave me the total and I paid for both of our cones, shoving my wallet back into my pocket. 

“Thanks, Rich..” Eddie hummed, starting to eat his. I thanked Cindy before walking to the door and holding it for Eddie. 

“Let’s go back to my place, yeah? School’s not over for a few more hours so your mom won’t even be expecting you back yet.” I grinned as Eddie nodded and licked my ice cream before I leaned over and stole some of his, earning me a squeal as some of it dripped onto his hand.

“Augh-- Dude eat your own you got two scoops! You always do this,” he complained but there was no bite to it. I just laughed and held out my cone to him. 

“You can have some of mine if you want,” I wiggled it in his face. 

“Gross, your spit’s on that.” I snorted at that, shooting him an incredulous look. 

“Yeah, and it’s on yours... And probably in your mouth, and on your d--”

“Okay! Okay, I get it, fuck.” He cut me off and leaned over, licking some of my ice cream. I tried not to focus on how obscene it looked as he spoke again. “Now shut the fuck up we’re in public.” 

“Let’s get out of public then so I can do stuff to you.” I wiggled the fingers on my free hand toward him and he smacked it, rolling his eyes.

“We have to finish our ice cream first man, I can’t bike holding this.” 

“Does that mean after ice cream I can do stuff to you?” My voice was teasing but Eddie completely knocked any joke away with his response, raising an eyebrow at me and licking his cone. 

“I think that’s only fair, I owe you from earlier anyway, don’t I?” I choked on spit, spluttering for a moment and almost dropping my cone. My response seemed to satisfy him and he smirked before I regained my composure. 

“You don’t… I mean… You don’t owe me anything.” I didn’t want that to be the reason we were doing things together, and he seemed to sense the insecurity that only extremely rarely showed itself in my voice. He breathed a sigh.

“Obviously, idiot, I was just teasing you because you were teasing me.” He licked his cone again, biting into the waffle part as he got down to it and looking at me out of the corners of his eyes. I smiled, letting myself relax again and finishing one and a half of my two scoops before deciding to just bite the remaining half along with my cone. Eddie shot me a look. “Are you fucking biting ice cream? Like an animal? What the fuck Richie? Your dad is a dentist that has to be bad for your teeth..” I snorted at that and rolled my eyes, taking an even more exaggerated bite from my cone just to spite Eddie and chewing with my mouth open. He made a disgusted sound, much to my amusement. “God I can’t believe I’m dating you…” He mumbled and it felt like my whole body was smiling. 

“But you areeee!” I teased in a sing-songy voice, too happy with the fact that he’d said it out loud in public to care if anyone had heard me.

“Not for much longer if you keep biting that like that,” he retorted and I barked a laugh, wiggling my eyebrows at him. 

“I’m saving all my licking for other things,” I winked and watched his face go crimson. 

“D--- Th-- That doesn’t even fucking make sense! You can lick more than one thing!” His voice was flustered and exasperated which was my favourite Eddie tone and I slung an arm around his shoulders, unable to help myself and hoping that it’d be brushed off as general friendliness to any passers by. 

“Can we go to my house now?” I grinned at him as he wiggled out from underneath my arm with a little huff. 

“Fine, let’s go. The longer we’re out the more I risk my mom seeing me anyway..” I smiled and walked with him back out to our bikes, mounting mine and waiting for Eddie to do the same before the two of us set off towards my house, smile lingering on my face. We mostly rode in silence, and I let out a happy little hum, enjoying the feeling of the wind in my hair as I rode next to Eddie. After a moment he turned to look at me, a thoughtful look on his face. 

“You think your mom will be home?” I shrugged, quirking an eyebrow as a mischievous look overtook my features.

“Dunno, why? Trying to get me alone again, Spagheds?” I watched him roll his eyes.

“Well obviously, yeah. Don’t fuckin call me Spagheds..” He shot back, and I grinned, speeding up on my bike a little. 

“She’ll probably be at work, but either way,” I paused, looking back over my shoulder at him, “I’ve got a lock on my door.” My grin widened and I watched Eddie go the tiniest bit pink. It didn’t matter if I had a lock or not, of course, at this point in my life my parents respected my privacy, but I knew the lock made Eddie feel more secure since he wasn’t used to.. Well… The basic human respect that parents were supposed to give to their adult children. It only took us a few more minutes to arrive at my house and I smiled when I noted the absence of cars in the driveway. Awesome, we had the house to ourselves. I let my bike drop on my front porch, watching Eddie lean his up against the side of the house.

“Looks like we’re gonna get to be alone after all,” I smiled as he caught up with me again and I went to unlock my front door, holding it for him and saying in the shittiest british accent I could manage, “after you my dearest,” which earned me a snorted laugh and a little shove as he walked past me into the house. 

“That accent is not sexy,” he turned back to look at me, “are you gonna shut the fucking door or just stand there?” I laughed and pushed the door shut with my foot, moving farther into the house. 

“You want something to eat or anything? It’s probably around lunch time at school..” I walked towards the kitchen, noting that Eddie was following behind me. I turned to look at him and he shrugged. 

“Not really hungry yet.. Plus we like JUST ate ice cream, Rich.” 

“Fair enough.. I kind of want chips though so,” I grabbed a bag of potato chips from my kitchen counter before turning on my heel. “Let’s go to my room.” I moved toward my room and Eddie nodded, turning to follow me and flopping down on my bed once we were inside. I smiled, sitting down next to him and stretching out. 

“So..” He was fidgeting, his fingertips running over the hem of his shorts over and over again as if he was suddenly nervous. I ripped open the chip bag, shoving a few into my mouth. 

“So..?” I repeated through a mouthful of chips which caused him to shoot me a grossed out look but I saw him visibly relax a little. 

“Why do you always talk with your mouth fucking full? That’s so gross dude, no one wants to see your food getting chewed up.” I laughed and shifted closer to him, our shoulders brushing. 

“Cause I like grossing you out and it’s easy.” He rolled his eyes but his lips shifted up into a slight smile and I felt him lean into me a little bit. 

“Hey… I uh..” His eyes shifted up to look at me and I raised an eyebrow, staring at him and watching his eyes flick away again. “Never mind..” Okay, he wasn’t gonna get away with that. 

“What?” I prodded, dusting some chip crumbs from myself. “C’mon spit it out spaghetti head,” I shot him a little smile that was meant to be encouraging but was probably more teasing than I’d meant it to be. He breathed out through his nose. 

“I was just.. I just love you is all,” he paused, “even if you’re disgusting.” I barked a laugh at that and threw my arms around him, pulling him into me and earning a surprised squeak. 

“Awwww Eddie Spaghetti loves me??” I was giggling and he shoved at me. 

“Augh-- never mind get off me, asshole!” He yelped but he was also laughing and I pressed a kiss to the side of his head with a loud “mwah” sound. 

“I love you too. A whole fucking lot. Even if you’re a little shit.” I loosened my hold on him only slightly so I could look him in the eyes again and he scoffed. 

“Oh, I’M the little shit? Coming from you?” His eyebrows were up in a way that was almost comical and I couldn’t stop smiling looking at him. Fuck. I was so goddamn glad we’d ditched the rest of school. 

“Hey, you should sleep over this weekend,” I changed the subject suddenly, hoping that since his mom would be unaware of our ditching status he wouldn’t stay grounded for more than the rest of the day. He sighed and shifted, wiggling his way halfway out of my arms before appearing satisfied with the amount that I was still holding him. 

“That would be cool, I’d have to get one of our other friends in on it though.. There’s no way she’ll let me sleep here.” He looked up at me and I pursed my lips. 

“Not even if I promise my parents will watch us the entire time?” He laughed, but it wasn’t entirely a happy sound.

“Rich, you know that’s bullshit and so will she.” I hummed in thought. 

“Wellll…. Maybe we can convince Stanley to lie? She trusts him, right?” I shifted again on the bed, grabbing another handful of chips from the bag to munch on as Eddie looked thoughtful for a moment. 

“That could work.. He’s gonna ask if he can come though and we’re gonna have to think of a reason that we wouldn’t want him to…” He was tapping his finger on his chin now, his features scrunched up in thought in a way that was just too cute. He had a point though, he, Stan, and I hung out as a group often enough that it would definitely cause suspicion on Stan’s part for Eddie to use him to lie to his mom without letting him tag along. 

“We could just tell him?” I suggested, shifting again. It wasn’t the worst idea, Bev had had a good reaction to the whole thing and she’d made it seem as if our friends already knew how we felt anyway. Eddie shot me a wild look before whatever expression I had on seemed to calm him down a little and his eyebrows scrunched together again. He let out a little “hmph” sound through his nose, apparently considering it, and it hit me that he probably hadn’t had as much time to dwell on coming out as I had, but then again, how was I to know? We hadn’t really talked about it much and all of this was so new even if it felt like it wasn’t. 

“Eventually,” he looked up at me, “eventually let’s tell him but.. For now let’s find a different way okay? I’m not.. I mean..” He ran a hand through his hair and I put a hand on his shoulder reassuringly. 

“Hey, it’s fine. We can definitely figure something else out, no rush. I mean hey, I’ve been in the closet this long I can handle a little longer.” I smiled at him but he frowned, eyes shifting away again. 

“Sorry,” his voice was quiet and my smile faltered, the hand that was on his shoulder moving to turn his face up toward me. 

“Hey, no, look at me. It’s fine. Really. You don’t have to be ready right now, fuck I’m only feeling brave now that I know I’m not alone in this.. But it’s scary, I get it.” He stared at me and after a moment nodded, lips thinning as he let out a little sigh. 

“Yeah, okay,” he paused, “thanks, Rich.” I wrapped my arm around his shoulder again, pulling him against me. 

“Yeah dude,” I was quiet for a second before I let out a little breath. “I know I give you shit all the time but I don’t want you to be uncomfortable doing this… Dating me..” He leaned his head into me and I felt him breathe a sigh against my shoulder. 

“I’m not. But it’s new.” I nodded in understanding. I knew what he meant. It felt so good to be this way around him, to hold him and kiss him and be able to do things I’d been waiting actual years to do with him, but the change was new and there was a certain amount of anxiety that came with that for both of us. 

“You wanna watch something together? We don’t actually have to watch it.” I smiled teasingly, wanting to change the tone to something lighter. He laughed at that, shifting until he was almost in my lap and looking up at me.

“Why don’t we skip the set up and just go straight to making out on your bed?” My eyebrows shot up. Okay, I hadn’t expected that response, but there was also no way in hell I’d object to it. I nodded, my arms moving to loop around his waist and pulling him farther onto me. 

“Fuck yes to that idea, c’mere.” He laughed and leaned up to connect our lips, wasting no time in pressing his tongue into my mouth and I sighed, letting my eyes close and pressing into the kiss eagerly. His lips were so soft, and he smelled so good… But then again he always smelled good, like cucumber mint shampoo and sunshine. Not that sunshine really had a smell, but if it did, it would smell like Eddie Kaspbrak. I felt his fingers come up to tangle in my hair and couldn’t stop my brain from flashing back to the last time he’d had his fingers in my curls earlier in the day. I made a sound and Eddie wiggled closer, breaking the kiss for a second. 

“You like having your hair pulled?” His voice was just a little breathy and a whine escaped my throat before I could stop it, nodding. He smiled, tugging my head back by my hair and I moaned as his mouth latched onto my exposed neck. 

“Shit, Eds,” I breathed, not expecting him to be so bold. I felt him laugh against my skin and nearly yelped as his teeth grazed over the spot he'd been mouthing. The thought that he might leave a mark there excited me to no end and I pressed closer to him, one of my hands moving to grip his hip while the other slid to the curve in his lower back. I felt him arch a little more at my touch as his tongue ran over the spot he'd bitten and he hummed thoughtfully. 

"Oops, left a mark, sorry," his eyes darted up to meet mine and he didn't look or sound sorry at all, the corners of his lips turned up in a little smirk. I quirked one eyebrow at him, letting out an amused breath through my nose. 

"You're not sorry," his smirk widened into a mischievous little smile and he shrugged.

"Nope." The word came out as a chirp and I grinned and leaned in to kiss him again, pulling him all the way into my lap and relishing the little sound he made at the unexpected movement before he settled, kissing me back with a hum. I ran my hand over his hip and pressed my tongue into his mouth, the hand resting on his lower back snaking up underneath his shirt and causing him to gasp against me. I rubbed small circles into his back with my thumb and felt him arch slightly before he broke the kiss again. 

“Maybe--” His breath was bated and he paused for a moment to catch it before starting again. “Maybe I  _ will  _ ask Stan.. You know… If he’ll cover for me..” He blinked at me and I shifted, my eyebrows going up a little. 

“You sure? You don’t have to, we could figure something else out remember?” I rolled my bottom lip between my teeth lightly. I wanted him to sleep over so badly but at the same time I didn’t want him to do something that would make him accidentally out himself before he was ready. Still, he had a determined look on his face and nodded, brown eyes steeled when they looked back into mine. 

“It’s fine. I’ll just tell him we wanna do something he really wouldn’t want to do,” I grinned, unable to help myself. 

“What, like each other?” He shoved me with a little laugh. 

“Shut up, I’m serious.” I wiggled my eyebrows at him but gave a little nod. 

“Okay, we’ll just have to think of something to tell him. Can we keep sucking face now before my mom gets home?” I watched him wrinkle his nose and he gave me another shove, this time lighter. 

“Not if you call it that, ew.” 

“Okay, okay,” I laughed, “Sorry, c’mere.” He seemed satisfied with my weak apology and leaned up to kiss me again, sighing through his nose, and I couldn’t help but let my mind wander a tiny bit to what we’d be able to do if he was able to finesse his way into sleeping over for the weekend. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took up 14 pages single spaced on my google drive. Enjoy.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry this is SO short I'll add more chapters later but its 2am and I just kinda wanted to set the scene lol --- the other chapters will be much longer I promise. 
> 
> (forgive me I haven't written fic in 3+ years)


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